This Empty Soul Still Smiles For You
by GreaterZ
Summary: first fic. Naruto and Sakura confront Sasuke again and he takes over Sakura's mind. NaruSaku, i think it's a oneshot, but not sure. R&R and let me know just so im clear on it myself, please no flames about the pairing. I don't own Naruto


_Italics: thought_

Quotations( "…"): speech

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form

"This Empty Soul Still Smiles For You"

Naruto's luck never ceased to amaze him. As a ninja, he experiences more than his fair share of dangerous situation, but some how, regardless of its severity he always finds a way out alive. Although that DOESN'T mean that he always makes it out unscathed, whether it be an emotional scar or some kind of physical trauma, every mission leaves its mark. Of course, some missions make deeper wounds than others. One mission in particular has never stopped tormenting him… the failed Rescue of Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto failed to uphold his nindo, his ninja way. He has always done everything that he could to keep his promises and the most important promise he made he was still working on. Haruno Sakura had gone to Uzumaki Naruto in her most desperate hour asking him to bring back the most important person in her life. He gave her the promise of a lifetime and he doesn't plan on giving up on it. Although he must admit, he wasn't expecting anything along the lines of what he was facing now. He had known after his first failure that bringing back Sasuke was going to take force, but he had always imagined it as him versus Sasuke, not him versus Sakura.

Even the thought of him fighting his Sakura-chan to the death made his skin crawl. He knew that ninja were supposed to forget their emotions when on a mission, but she was his best friend and closest comrade, he couldn't hurt her. Knowing the circumstances of her defection didn't make fighting her any easier either. They had found Sasuke, had defeated his team, and had him cornered, but Sasuke had become much crueler in his time away from them. He didn't even deem Naruto worthy of fighting him without proving himself in some way.

Sasuke's Sharingan had reached a new level after he defeated Itachi, not only had he gained the permanent Mangekyou Sharingan that Itachi had so avidly sought, but it came with other perks as well. The one that he decided to employ as a test for Naruto was the ability to control the minds of his enemies, in this case, Sakura.

Sasuke stood behind Sakura with a blank expression on his stony face. Sakura stood with her back to him and an aggravated look on her face as she unknowingly glared at the man not but 15 feet from her. Naruto was staring at the ground, with a listless demeanor. He couldn't bear to see Sakura look at him like that, even though her eyes lacked their usual twinkle.

_'It's amazing… I'm a ninja for god's sake. I know what I have to do…but…'_Naruto thought as he looked up and caught Sakura's gaze, which was full of nothing short of, although quite unrequited, hate. '_Sakura-__chan__ is in there somewhere.'_ Naruto sighed and shifted his gaze to the silent Uchiha. Sasuke's faced showed the first hint of emotion since he had crossed paths with his old teammates, he smirked. It was small, but its message was clear, he was actually enjoying this sick little game.

"Well, Naruto, what will you do?" Sasuke asked in an emotionless voice. "Do you want me back so much that you would kill Sakura in the process? Because I assure you, you will die if you don't fight her for real."

"Sasuke, what the hell to you aim to gain by having Sakura and me fight to the death?" Naruto asked grimly. "Why can't we all just go back to the way we were?"

"Hmph," Sasuke grunted, "It's too late for that, it was too late the very instant you let me get away at the Valley of the End. I have no one and that's exactly how I like it. So listen now and listen well, I. Am. Never. Coming. Back. To. Konoha."

"Why not!?!" Naruto shouted, "Sakura and I are your friends, we want you back! Do you know how empty I would feel inside if I knew that I would never see you or Sakura-chan again?! Do you know how hard it is to keep smiling for everyone knowing that to this day I've failed to save you?!"

Sasuke outright laughed at Naruto's outburst. "Please," Sasuke chuckled slowly regaining his composure, "Aside from just now, when was the last time that I genuinely smiled? Look Naruto, I'm tired of you following me around like a lost puppy. Today is the end, no matter what happens, at least one member of Team 7 is going to die, and right now, all signs point to you unless you're prepared to kill Sakura and me."

"Well, you know that I could never do that, I would never hurt Sakura-chan." Naruto said looking back at the vicious kuniochi. "So I only have one request, think of it as a favor to an old friend," Naruto said as he smirked painfully catching Sasuke's gaze once again. "After Sakura-chan kills me, let her go."

Sasuke's stare hardened as Naruto finished speaking. His eyes coldly gazing back into Naruto's impossibly blue eyes. "You really are a dobe... fine," was all he said before he looked away and smirked. "Kill him."

Sakura drew a kunai and began to slowly advance on Naruto. That cold, soulless look in her eyes told Naruto that she was still under Sasuke's control as her face contorted into an angry grimace. Naruto's hands fell to his sides and he looked back at the ground.

"Sakura-chan," he whispered almost inaudibly, "I'm so sorry, I failed to keep my promise…THE promise." A single tear slid down Naruto's cheek as he looked back up into her eyes with a painful expression on his face. "The promise that I made because I love you, my most precious person." Tears began to stream down his face, but still he smiled. He smiled the smile that he so often made for her.

The Kunoichi had reached him and raised the kunai above her head. However, to Naruto's and albeit Sasuke's amazement, she suddenly stopped. Her eyes still lacked their usual radiance, but her expression had changed, the anger had subsided, replaced instead by a look of unbearable sadness. Sasuke's expression quickly grew stern.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I told you to kill him, now do it." Sasuke said with evident anger in his voice. Naruto stared softly into Sakura's eyes and kept smiling.

"I know you're in there somewhere, Sakura-chan," Naruto said still gazing into her eyes. "I know that you've gotten stronger, a lot stronger than you think. I can see it, I really can. You should be proud of yourself, I know I'm proud of you." Naruto's expression softened as the tears continued to fall. "You've made me stronger too, you know. Thanks to you I finally stopped relying on Kyuubi's power and learned to walk on my own two feet. I always said that I would protect you with my life, and I'm going to do just that. Just promise me this, because I know you can hear me," Naruto closed his eyes and gave Sakura a quick kiss on the forehead. Sakura's eyes, though still dull and faded, widened in surprise. Naruto stepped back and spread his arms before smiling at Sakura again. "When I'm gone remember me, and please live a long, happy life, have lots of kids, and die a content old women."

"Damn it! If you don't shut him up right now, I'll kill you both myself!" Sasuke shouted, clearly losing his temper at the emotional display. Sakura's eye's still had not regained their usual liveliness, but Naruto knew that his message had gotten through to her. She was shaking like a leaf and tears were streaming from her beautiful emerald eyes. She nodded, it was just barely, but definite none the less.

"Na-ru-to," Sakura breathed. Before anyone else could react, the kunai came flying down with incredible force piercing Naruto's chest on the left side pectoral exactly where his heart would be. He let out a faint gasp as his eyes shot open wide and blood splattered onto the ground and Sakura. She removed her trembling hand from the blade and looked at Naruto's expression, some incomprehendable cross between pain and shock. Her eyes widened at her deed as her hands covered her mouth to stifle the inevitable sobs and screams.

Naruto fell to his knees as his eyelids grew heavy. He thought he heard someone scream his name in the distance, but then again he couldn't really focus on anything at the moment until he felt two hands grasp his shoulders. He struggled with all his might to lift his head enough to see Sakura kneeling in front of him, tears still streaming down her face. To his great enjoyment, her eyes had back their usual beautiful radiance. He then lifted his half-lidded eyes to meet her gaze, and he did the most amazing thing Sakura had ever seen.

Naruto smiled. He was looking her right in the eyes, no hate, no anger, just the same thing that she always saw in his eyes, caring. He had a kunai in his chest, was dying, and still he smiled for her.

"Glad to see… you're back to your… old self, Sakura-chan," he chuckled painfully with his stupid grin still plastered on his face.

Sakura's expression was painful to look at for anyone but Naruto. Her eyes were opened as wide as she could possibly get them and her face had twisted into a look of unsurpassable sadness and regret.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry, please, please don't die," Sakura choked between sobs not wanting to break eye contact with the boy that she could see drifting away in front of her. "I promise, when we get back to the village we're going to go on a date and if you miss it I'll kill you so wipe that stupid grin off your face." Sakura said as her gaze softened and a small smile spread across her lips.

Naruto's smile widened as he continued his strained gaze. "I can't help it Sakura-chan, I can't help but smile when you look at me like that," He chuckled deeply, "and as for the date, I knew I'd get you eventually, but right now I'm kind of tired, hope you don't mind if I take a nap." He said as his head drooped and his entire body began to slump. "Don't worry, I'll be up in time for our date, I wouldn't miss for the world." He said as he pulled out the kunai and blood began to run profusely from the wound.

Naruto was certain that he was going to die, but if it would comfort Sakura, he was more than willing to play along as long as his body would allow. Unfortunately, it seemed his body decided he couldn't prevent the inevitable any longer. The last thing that he felt before his world went dark was his Sakura-chan pulling him into an embrace; he couldn't think of any way that he would rather go.

Naruto opened his eyes, all that he saw was white. He also noted that he couldn't move. He could still feel a slight pain in his chest as well and was somewhat surprised.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're trying to pull, God? No one ever told me it was going to keep hurting after I died." He muttered softly. Naruto still couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something seemed off. He noticed that not everything was white he had to blink a few times but noticed that there was a light right in front of him. That was glowing much brighter than its surroundings which were textured like a wall or ceiling.

"Oh, I get it, I have go into the light first. Well that's a lot easier said than done, big guy, I can't move," Naruto stated to himself somewhat annoyed and trying with all his might to even move his arm toward it. However, something immediately came between him and that light ahead of him. A face was hovering inches over his with an unmistakable look of surprise and pure joy plastered on it. Naruto was pretty surprised when that face came into view so uncomfortably close to him, but nothing compared to when he recognized it as the woman he had seen just before he died…wait, was he dead??? His eyes opened wide when he realized that it was Sakura staring down at him, and they opened even wider when she took his face in her hands and pressed her lips into his. Okay, that settled it, he had died and gone to heaven and he sure as hell wasn't complaining.

When Sakura broke the kiss Naruto noticed that she had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. She then slipped out of sight in the same direction that she had popped up from. Naruto struggled to turn his head to face her again, and when he did, he noticed a large machine next to him. He slowly began to recognize his surroundings as the Konoha hospital.

"I'm so glad you finally woke up," Sakura sniffled as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "For awhile they weren't sure that you were going to make it. They had to put you into a medically induced coma because of the severity of your injuries." Sakura said in a voice absolutely trembling with joy.

Naruto's confusion was written all over his face, and the questions just started flowing into his head, "HowthehelldidIsurvivegettingstabbedintheheart?DidKyuubihavesomethingtodowiththis? HowlonghaveIbeenout? Where'sSasuke?", and out his mouth, unfiltered and extremely fast.

Sakura just giggled at the blonde. She knew the answer to all the questions, but the last one worried her a little bit. Though she hadn't been in control of her body at the time, she did remember everything that happened during Sasuke's control over her, and one thing that Naruto had said to him during that made her a little uneasy.

"Well, do you want those in any specific order?" she said cutting off the blonde before he could think of any more questions. "Well, you didn't get stabbed in the heart for starters, it hit your liver and lung which is still really bad, it's a miracle that you survived, but if it had hit your heart I don't think you would have made it."

Though she had answered his question, Naruto was far from satisfied, in fact he was even more confused than when he had first asked it.

"Wait a sec, how did it hit my liver," Naruto said as he struggled to sit up in his bed and look at Sakura," isn't that on the other side of my body than where the kunai went in?"

"Well, for most people that's true," Sakura said matter-of-factly before she grinned widely at Naruto, "but lucky for us that you aren't most people. You have a condition called reverse cardioplashia."

Naruto looked at her stupidly before finally admitting defeat. "Okay, I'm stumped, inverse cardia-what now?"

Sakura giggled again before explaining, "It means that all of your internal organ's positions are reversed. So where a normal person's heart would be in the left side of their chest, yours is on the right. Get it?"

"I…guess?" Naruto said still unsure of the meaning of the word. "But, what about the other stuff?"

"Naruto," Sakura said looking down with a rather sullen look on her face, "I'm really sorry. You've only been out for a week and I don't know if Kyuubi had anything to do with your survival, but…" She was unsure how to tell Naruto of Sasuke's fate. "Sasuke… died."

Naruto's blood went cold. His eyes widened in horror at the thought that his best friend and rival Uchiha Sasuke was… dead. He couldn't believe it; he just didn't see how someone could kill a ninja that powerful.

"Who… killed him?"Naruto asked quietly, lost in his own awe. "I just don't see who could have done it."

Sakura looked away from Naruto and took a deep breath; she didn't want to answer his question, but he asked and she couldn't keep it from him forever. He would probably take it better hearing from her as opposed to someone else anyway.

"It…was me," she said hesitantly just above a whisper, "I killed him."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears, it couldn't have been Sakura. There was just no way that she would, or for that matter could, kill Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan, that's impossible," Naruto said with a comforting expression on his face, "you can't blame yourself for something like this, I mean, it's not like you personally killed him. I know you wouldn't do that."

The tears began to pour down her cheeks once more. "You're wrong. I did kill him, with my own two hands, but I swear I didn't mean to," Sakura said in a trembling voice. "I was just so angry when I thought that I had lost you. Sasuke just turned and started walking away. I screamed at him to turn around, and when he did, I threw my last three shuriken at him and… he didn't dodge them. He just stood there and let them hit him. I couldn't believe it. As angry as I was, I still ran to him when he fell. All three of them had struck a vital spot and he was losing blood fast." She paused to look at Naruto's reaction to her story so far. He was just looking at her, dumbfounded. His jaw was slack and his mouth hung open slightly.

After looking at Naruto for a few seconds without a reaction from him, she continued. "I had to know why. Why didn't he fight back? I asked him and he just smiled. Then he told me that he couldn't kill me because… he had promised you he wouldn't. He died a few minutes later," Sakura looked at Naruto's broken expression with sadness in her eyes. "Please, Naruto, forgive me. I didn't mean to kill him. Please don't hate me. I don't know what I'd do if you did," she said between sobs looking away from Naruto. Sakura was sure that Naruto would probably never speak to her again after finding out that she had killed Sasuke, but she was wrong.

Sakura still couldn't make eye contact with Naruto as she sobbed into his hospital bed sheets, when she two strong arms wrapped her in a warm embrace. She looked up and saw Naruto smiling at her, there was unmistakable sadness in his eyes, but that smile was genuine. A tear slid down his cheek as well, and he couldn't help but let out a single small sob. Sakura buried her face in his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. Naruto lowered his head a little and began to softly whisper in her ear.

"Sakura-chan, I love you, and I could never hate you," Naruto began in his most comforting voice, "Sasuke made his choice, and I respect that. Besides, you and I still have a date when I get out of here, right?" he asked with a slight hope in his voice.

Sakura couldn't help but smile as she lifted her head and drew Naruto's face toward hers. She stopped just before their noses touched. "Of course, I meant what I said Naruto," she said with a twinkle in her eye. Tears were still visible on her cheeks, but she had stopped crying. She smiled sweetly before drawing her lips to Naruto's in a gentle kiss. "After all, you're my most precious person too, baka," she said quietly after breaking the kiss. Naruto's was already blushing madly during the kiss, but the shade of his face was akin to a ripe tomato at her words.

He couldn't help but smile his huge, stupid grin when she pulled away. Sasuke had been his friend, his rival, and his brother. It was true that he hadn't saved Sasuke like he had promised he would all those years ago. However, he knew that deep down Sasuke had never forgotten them or the bonds that they had shared, and as a final gift he brought him and Sakura closer together. It was true that Naruto felt empty inside hearing of his best friend's demise, but even so, nothing could stop him from smiling for his Sakura-chan.


End file.
